Mandela's Democracy

Nash, Andrew

doi:10.14452/mr-050-11-1999-04_2

Cited by 40 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…On March 6, 2005, several thousand Zulus marched through the Durban city center to protest the constitution because the new provincial framework failed to recognize Zulu political identity, which is, as Chief Buthelezi (2005) put it, expressed through its “amakhosi, its kingdom, and its monarchy.” Such images of village democracy—images that reference the wise, consultative chief as an African contribution to democratic governance—would be of only local importance were it not for its widespread invocation by southern Africa's political elites, especially the charismatic icons of democracy, notably Mandela (Nash 2001). In ways that confound the modernity/tradition opposition, Mandela's conception of a pan‐African version and vision of democracy, and its centrality to the evolution of an African modernity of self‐governance, are joined to a deep and often articulated appreciation of EuroAmerican procedures, institutions, and civil society guarantees (Mandela 1965, 1994).…”

Section: Chiefs In South Africa: Mandela To Zumamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several traditional leaders, such as Patekile Holomisa, president of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa, vociferously supported this position (Holomisa 2000). Traditional leadership could, so the argument goes, be made democratically acceptable; indeed, the tradition of the village council approximated the authentic spirit of direct democracy because it afforded every village member the opportunity to speak and be heard (Nash 2001). Holomisa (2000) enframes the issue,…”

Section: Land Locality and Municipal Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…He argues that a true African democratic governance has roots in its precolonial social structures and that rather than blindly adopting the version, what South Africa needs is to rediscover its traditions and practices where it would find indigenous ways of making democratic decisions. In this sense, Holomisa and Mandela are of one mind (Nash 2001, 245). Holomisa and Contralesa view the creation and power of the new municipalities as a frontal assault on the institution of traditional leadership.…”

Section: Land Locality and Municipal Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Traditional Leaders and the Culture of Governance in South Africa

Koelble

Puma

2010

Governance

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The global neoliberal economic and political order impregnated the emergence of democracy in South Africa. One of the hallmarks of this order is that the capacity of the state to transform society is constrained, particularly in the rural hinterlands. The incapacity of the state to extend its grip, both economically and politically, has provided traditional leaders with an opportunity to both recast themselves as intermediaries between state and society and elevate themselves to decision makers on behalf of large communities. The article examines the way in which traditional leaders have repositioned themselves in the new democracy, what their source of support is, and why the African National Congress government has come to support these efforts.

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Section: Chiefs In South Africa: Mandela To Zumamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Land Locality and Municipal Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Land Locality and Municipal Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Traditional Leaders and the Culture of Governance in South Africa

Koelble

Puma

2010

Governance

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“…Their aim is to transform an institution whose legitimacy stems from its assertion of deep historical roots in what is, from a historical perspective, an imagined pre-colonial past. Such modernists, including Mandela and Pathekile Holomisa, are busy 'democratising' the institution to make it more compatible with the requirements of a liberal, Euro-American constitution, no matter how inherently difficult this might be (Nash 2002). To do so, they are drawing upon legislation to fulfil the democratic norms by encouraging the installation of female chiefs, electing women into local councils, having youth representatives in village deliberations.…”

Section: The Reinvention Of Traditional Leadership In Post-apartheid mentioning

confidence: 99%

Deliberative democracy and the politics of traditional leadership in South Africa: A case of despotic domination or democratic deliberation?

LiPuma

Koelble

2009

Journal of Contemporary African Studies

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A heated debate developed in South Africa as to the meaning of 'deliberative democracy'. This debate is fanned by the claims of 'traditional leaders' that their ways of village-level deliberation and consensus-oriented decision-making are not only a superior process for the African continent as it evolves from pre-colonial tradition, but that it represents a form of democracy that is more authentic than the Western version. Proponents suggest that traditional ways of deliberation are making a come-back because imported Western models of democracy that focus on the state and state institutions miss the fact that in African societies state institutions are often seen as illegitimate or simply absent from people's daily lives. In other words, traditional leadership structures are more appropriate to African contexts than their Western rivals. Critics suggest that traditional leaders, far from being authentic democrats, are power-hungry patriarchs and authoritarians attempting to both re-invent their political, social and economic power (frequently acquired under colonial and apartheid rule) and re-assert their control over locallevel resources at the expense of the larger community. In this view, the concept of deliberative democracy is being misused as a legitimating device for a politics of patriarchy and hierarchy, which is the opposite of the meaning of the term in the European and US sense. This article attempts to contextualise this debate and show how the efforts by traditional leaders to capture an intermediary position between rural populations and the state is fraught with conflicts and contradictions when it comes to forming a democratic state and society in post-apartheid South Africa.

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“…1, p. 19). Perhaps he had in mind something similar to the 'tribal model of democracy' that Mandela had imbibed from his childhood in the Transkei (Nash 2002), though precolonial Ovambo society was hardly democratic. Nujoma had the opportunity to travel the world far more extensively than Mandela, but remained politically unsophisticated.…”

Section: Liberation and Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%